Wednesday, March 9th 2022
Belarusian forces will not take part in Ukraine war, Lukashenko says
Russia, Belarus Begin War Games Amid Outcry From Ukraine, West
Russia and Belarus have launched major war games in an already tense region, intensifying concerns about Moscow’s military intentions and sparking denunciation from the West and Ukraine.
The maneuvers, which began on February 10, are taking place in southern Belarus, near its border with Ukraine. They are scheduled to last for 10 days, the countries’ military officials have said.
The drills take part amid a flurry of diplomatic activity as U.S. and European leaders seek ways to tamp down tensions that have soared following Russia’s move to amass more than 100,000 combat-ready troops near its border with Ukraine, raising concerns it could launch an invasion.
Belarus may be about to send its troops into Ukraine, US official says
Belarus may be preparing to send its soldiers into Ukraine in support of the Russian invasion, perhaps as soon as this week, according to a US defence official, amid mounting concern about Minsk’s military preparations.
Belarus has already been used as a staging post by Russian forces, who gathered there on the pretext of joint military exercises before last week’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now there is increasing evidence that Minsk may be moving towards becoming an explicit participant in the war.
On Monday it announced it was revoking its non-nuclear status after a referendum, allowing Russian weapons to be placed in Belarus. The move provoked rare protests in the country.
Yeah, good morning. It’s 7:00 a.m. and I guess I’m supposed to get up. Are things getting tense around here? Yes, things are getting very tense around here. People have been purposely acting normal for a while, yesterday was supposed to be a big holiday which I missed completely and now this is the news that greets me.
That red arrow on the map is me. Just saying.
I’m not lying to that I’m kind of isolated these days. I’m just staying at home and working on setting up my garden. But every time I do go out it seems that the military presence is becoming more and more opposite. Again, they have a small brigade and a tank at the river crossing and every time I have gone to the store, there have been armed military there as well. This is only two trips so it’s not a gigantic sample size. But let’s just say it’s getting real. So I guess the real question is what I’m going to do about it. Well, the answer for me right now is to go make some coffee and toast.
***
I’m sitting outside right now staring at my field. It’s really cold. Not suffering cold. Not Jack London cold. But cold enough that if mixed with the entirety of my life has me pretty demotivated.
If I follow my plan to conclusion, I have maybe three more garden boxes to build and then I’ll call it quits. I still have a large expanse of field where I planted the potatoes last year that seem to be asking to have something put in it but I’m not sure what I want to do. I laid out five Mama zucchinis over to the left and that will end up being a joke really. It will explode into a forest of zucchini plants. What do I need them for? I don’t. I mean, zucchinis are great vegetables. And you need a lot of vegetables to keep yourself normal. Also, I guess I can eat zucchinis everyday for a long time because I did it last year and it really wasn’t so bad. You don’t go insane or anything like that and you can prepare it a hundred different ways just like any other vegetable. But most probably, most of it is going to end up in the compost bin. And maybe that’s the best reason of all to do it. Maybe there’s no such thing as bad organic material.
The bad feelings that I ended yesterday with my ex partner probably has me down as much as the weather. Maybe I’m just too lazy to make the effort to go into town. I have some bureaucracy to take care of but frankly, I just get an empty feeling from the thought of it. I’m not particularly worried about harassment or anything like that. For the most part, everybody is doing everything they can to just keep their normal lives going. Also, I know that if I just get started, I will keep going and just go through it like everyone else until I’m done with whatever it is. But I have a tremendously hollow feeling that does not want to go away.
Maybe This feeling comes from getting fat. I have been eating a lot of big meals lately. Mostly at dinner time but also at breakfast. I still for the most part stay with two meals a day except for Saturdays but last night I took a picture of myself and I could see that I’m starting to get pretty full in the belly. I don’t feel bad. I don’t feel like I’m stressing myself and I certainly get enough exercise these days. But obviously I’m eating due to stress and I seem to be packing on the pounds or kilos depending on how you measure such things. I guess I have to consciously tune that back.
I guess the problem is that this is probably also a cyclical issue. I feel hollow so I eat too much but then when I eat too much I start to feel hollow so I eat too much to stop feeling hollow but eating too much makes me feel hollow. They say that the alternative idea for treating drug addiction is to improve the quality of your life. To that I would say good luck these days. Explain to me exactly how I’m supposed to improve the quality of my life?
For the last several years, I have been approached by many many people because they demand to see me as some kind of a toy. I have been told, a friend of mine came up with this idea, that I live under apartheid. The exact same freedom that the people I live with feel to look at me in a deprecating light without the slightest hint of guilt is exactly the same as life in South Africa for black people used to be and probably even still is. Basically, they will not stop thinking of me either as a boy or as a property that they can somehow own. Or even more succinctly, they feel they have the right to be entertained by me on their schedule and if I don’t come through for them, basically they want their money back on their tickets. But that’s the weirdness: they don’t pay for any tickets. Nobody bought tickets. Nevertheless, they are entitled.
If I call them on this, they always go into ther shpiel about “our people”. They say, “you don’t understand our people…” and other such nonsense. I never believed in this because logically, they don’t vote or have any particular say in how their regions are governed. They just passively sit and the government moves them along and they take comfort in this “our people” bullshit. You cannot have “our people” in a voteless society. I mean, sure you could sit around and play high school politics and popularity contests with each other and I can certainly see how it would be Instagram easy to play “us” versus “them” if they can physically see me in front of them. But you cannot verbally say “our people” anymore because it certainly seems as if their people are just killing each other randomly. Nobody is referring to this business in Ukraine as a civil war but how is it not a civil war? I’ve been listening to this “our people” bullshit for 8 years but now suddenly there is no “people” or unified collective because they’re just driving tanks over each other.
It makes it kind of a hollow argument don’t you think? Please, tell me again about your beautiful collective. Please, tell me again how you are all together and I am so far behind you. Please, explain to me again your actions and your motivations and why you do what you do. Please explain to me “your people”.
It’s alsp possible that some of this comes from a note I got from a Russian girl who lives in perm. Perm is near the Ural mountains and this girl wrote to me because of a comment I made on a VK post. I don’t really know why I commented on it except that I believe in veganism to be a great cure for skin problems. Maybe I’ll just walk you through this.
First of all, I don’t spend a lot of time on social networks. I’m generally not on Facebook at all because there is a separate messenger app from The social Network app. I am not logged in or even connected to Facebook proper but I still have many people who know me on messenger so sometimes I get contacted there. I don’t post anymore on Instagram but I have the same situation there and on VK. The difference is that in order to check my messages, I open up the app and so whatever the first post is gets in my face. And sometimes, the post gets my attention.
https://vk.com/wall-43696984_3459750
This is Claire Elizabeth and she has psoriasis. And on her account, Claire shares her life and struggle with the disease.
“Why I don’t treat my psoriasis? Personally, I think that treatment is a short-term “fix”. Steroid creams work, but as soon as I stop taking them, my psoriasis returns again. The phototherapy eventually worked, but later my psoriasis returned again. Every time I clung to the hope that the next treatment would get rid of psoriasis, so when it didn’t happen, I was like gutted. My emotions were rushing up and down, and it was unbearable! That’s why I’ve learned to accept my skin as it is and am happy with how it looks.”
Okay, it caught my attention because it was a girl in a bathing suit, right? Maybe. Nevertheless, it occurred to me to say something. I read down through the comments and didn’t see anybody thinking the way I did so this is what I wrote:
“I had a friend with psoriasis in New York. It was pretty bad and it brought her a lot of grief in her life. We both found that a well-balanced vegan diet helped us both a lot. It gave me more strength and I recovered more easily and did a lot to clean up her skin. (Going vegan) is a very good anti-inflammatory diet. I still eat a vegan diet.”
A little while later, I got a message on VK from a girl named K. I’m not writing out her full name because there’s no reason to bring her into things unless she decides to get into things. But basically, this is how the back and forth about my comment worked:
K 2:00 pm
good afternoon, I saw your comment, can you tell me what kind of diet?
Adam 3:33 pm
Hi. Yes, I’ve often been a vegetarian for most of my life, but I’ve been completely vegan for 4 years now, and I swear I eat whole foods (diet) based on plants. I eat beans and other legumes for protein and stay away from restaurant food and foods with lots of salt and sugar. my health is the most important thing.
A couple of hours later, she wrote back
K 6:23 pm
I’ve just been sick with psoriasis since the age of 6, I’ve tried a lot and nothing really helps. 3 years everything was fine and this year it poured out a lot
Yeah I know what it’s like. The world is very visual and everybody is comparing themselves to Instagram models. There’s not much sympathy out there for the world we have right now. A great shame that. Yeah, I meant that girl in New York and she was very open and loving and it was very unexpected. But then she took off her coat and I got how bad her skin was. I agree, it was a moment. But I liked her and so we hung out a lot and at that time, I was playing with veganism and I suggested that she come with me. Her skin started clearing up within a couple of days. I wouldn’t say it was a miracle and I don’t really know what happened because we were only together for a short time. But it sure seemed to work. Truthfully though, she wasn’t so nice when her skin cleared up. What are you going to do? I can speak Russian pretty well by the way. If you were using a translator, it’s not necessary
This is in English: https://www.google.com/search?q=does+veganism+work+fo..
This is Russian but it still seems to agree: https://www.google.com/search?q=помогает+ли+веганство..
Also if you’re interested, this is me: green2022.org
In theory, it was supposed to be a vegan foodie blog but we’re having a war so I’m writing about a bunch of other crap.
Then I asked her where she is from.
K 6:41 pm
thanks a lot , I don’t mind keeping in touch, everything is not so bad with my body, I just have a couple of spots, but still I want to get rid of them
Adam 6:43 pm
Where are you?
K 6:44 pm
live?
Adam 6:44 pm
Yes
K 6:44 pm
Perm
Adam 6:46 pm
A northern girl! Tell your friends to get the hell out of ukraine!
Listen, try this vegan thing. and seriously, if you need help or something like that, how to do it, what dishes or something like that, let me know. and if it works, you might want to help me save this site..if it doesn’t work, throw it away like trash. but if this happens, maybe other people can be helped.
K 6:49 pm
“A northern girl! Tell your friends to get the hell out of ukraine!”
we (here in) Russia (are) against the war, but we cannot influence it in any way
Adam 6:53 pm
Seriously, I could talk about the joys of veganism all day. It changed my life and really so seems to be the correct choice for human beings. I believe this with all my heart
And then a bit later…
K 8:08 pm
and another question that is not entirely related to our topic, did you react so sharply when you found out that I am from Russia, your people are against us?
Adam 8:11 pm
it wasn’t sharp. I wasn’t angry. But I also have family from Ukraine and generally, I have a hard time with Russian imperialism. But you know, if you find the very end of today’s blog, I have a recipe for vegan mac and cheese. Don’t worry. I am not violent. I just don’t like violent sociopaths or the oil business
K 8:12 pm
I cooked macaroni and cheese, but in butter
Adam 8:13 pm
oops. cought you sexually assaulting a cow again… dairy products cause inflamation.
K 8:14 pm
ok, I understand you, I’ll take note
Adam 8:14 pm
send pictures. Before and after…
K 8:15 pm
okey)
Adam 8:15 pm
only love…cheers
K 8:15 pm
And that’s it. Another day, another dollar and me doing my part for world peace.
But like I said, the deal is that I feel ridiculously empty. So what is it? Is it fighting with my ex partner? Is it waking up to find out that the belarusians are doing workouts with the Russian army? Or is it that in the midst of this, I have Russian girls with bad skin calling me on the 8th of March? Or is it just that I’m eating too much these days? Or maybe it’s the persistent cold or trying to build garden boxes on a place I might not even be able to live in for very long. Or maybe it’s just not having any money to do anything about anything and at the same time, finding out that countries like South Korea think it important to punish us even more for all of the things that we are not responsible for?l.
No, it’s very hard to pinpoint a feeling like this. I wish i were something simple. If it was just one obvious culprit, you could just draw a line and get rid of it. But where do you draw the line here? What am I supposed to do with all of this?
***
This is kind of a late for international women’s day but it seems that meat and dairy consumption have a direct corollary effect on breast cancer even up to 50%. You can listen to this guy or not. But frankly, I go with the science way, way ahead of people telling me what is normal for them or what their people have always done.
***
It’s 6:00 and I have just finished a really nice dinner. I used some saved tomatoes and put together something creamy and nice. You don’t need the recipe. There was no meat, I made it in one pot and it was calming and soothing. It was exactly what I needed.
The weather said it was supposed to be cold today but the sun came out beautifully and when it was shining right on me, I lost two layers of protection and worked on what will probably be my last two boxes in my t-shirt. I don’t think I have any plans to publish a sexy Adam calendar but it definitely felt nice to be in the fresh air and sunshine.
As always, I ended up solving problems at the end of the build that I probably could have thought of at the beginning. No particular big deal, just some ideas on how to build a corner.
I also think I’m going to install these gutters myself. Last year I tried to hire a local guy to do it but ended up becoming so sick of his manipulative dialogue that I sent him down the road. I could whine about where this comes from but you’ve already heard me talk about this crap enough. Whatever he thinks his people are, they underestimate what it means to grow up listening to telemarketers waste your time. After a while, you just can’t take the pitch anymore.
The stickiness of the job is that I have a cement asphalt roof, which was pretty standard here 40 years ago and at least 8 to 15 cm of overhang. So the problem is that the material itself does not really lend itself to roof straps and I have to extend the soffit.
The difference is that right now I still have a ton of wood lying around that I could easily form into triangles or rafter extenders. Tomorrow, I’m going to start in earnest collecting materials from the forest to close off the light at the bottom of the boxes and lay in some twigs to add some good biomaterial and be a place for fungi to grow. But the next time I go to town, I’m definitely going to see what’s available in gutter clips. I think I could probably put together a good system to catch the rainwater off the roof. That’ll be the main key to making sure that I have enough water for these garden boxes.
Yes, I’m a little bit nervous about living with a concrete asbestos roof. Eventually it’s going to have to be replaced but I don’t think that’s going to be anywhere in the next two or three years. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and as of the moment, it doesn’t really leak. It just needs gutters and some downspouts that end up in water barrels.
So all of this is in the plan and I’m just going about everything One Day at A time. I don’t need to repeat myself so often but it feels good having these projects. I’m working at my own pace of course. I’m not claiming to be any kind of Master Carpenter. Then again, this is not the first thing I’ve ever built in my life and just simply going about everything step by step is very, very satisfying. I like the problem solving. I like the physicality and I very much like seeing finished work at the end of the day.
So all of this human industry is all well and good I’m sure and I’m sure those of you who are afraid that I’m a lost hippie or something like that really ought to know that eventually, this is not going to be a working place and I am very, very interested and having a self-sustaining Garden. This is going to be a place for fruit and nuts and berries much more than cabbage feels or potato patches. I am doing veggies this year and we’re going to have a nice place with these raised beds and I’ll do my best to make sure that we create as much compost as we can. But I am not in this for the slavery. I am a lazy man and I very much look forward to kicking back and watching the grass grow and making friends with the local animals. I am not here for the perpetual movement. I am here for the quiet.
Anyway, tomorrow is Thursday and then we have Friday and other than a trip to the local store, I don’t think I’ll be going to town this week. Perhaps I should do something a little quicker. I’m a little afraid of the money system crashing and leaving me broke again. That is never, ever a pleasant feeling. But on the other side of the coin, I didn’t spend a penny today nor did I yesterday. The day before that I spent $4 and that was three days after I spent $5. All of that was just for some veggies and a loaf of bread. I didn’t need the veggies but if I wanted to, I would have made the bread myself.
You know, I grew up in a family that only understood shopping as a thing to do anywhere. They liked going out of the house but required a car to do so and there was never any particular activity to do except buy things. I grew up like this. I grew up looking for restaurants. When I was bored, I would look for something to eat and I would tell myself all about how this was normal behavior. I had a friend or two ask me why I went to so many restaurants and went out to breakfast so often. He was a home cook. I didn’t understand why I didn’t like doing it. I guess it took me a lot of years to find out that he was right.
Right now it’s a difficult time though obviously. This morning, I made a pot of tea with an electric teapot and when the water started boiling, it seemed to have the same sound as warplanes flying overhead. I figured it out pretty quickly but there was a moment there where I kind of shivered. They do this to you. I’m quite sure they like doing this to us. War games, killing games, pitting brother against brother for a goal nobody can really understand. All for the love of oil. All for wasting all the resources of the world right here and right now. This is no way to live. Better to do things quietly and slowly. Better to do things peacefully.
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